Crush-resistant package



Feb. 5, 1957 l. VOLCKENING CRUSH-RESISTANT PACKAGE Filed April 6. 1955d- INVENTOK. J? 0 Z VaZaif/ZZ BY I? ATTORNEY United Statcs PatentCRUSH-RESIST ANT PACKAGE Lloyd I. Volckening, Glen Ridge, N. J.,assignor to Ivers- Lee Company, Newark, N. J., a corporation of NewJersey Application April 6, 1955, Serial No. 499,690

2 Claims. (Cl. 206-65) This invention relates in general to packages ofthe type comprising an approximately fiat, rectangular bag, envelope orlike container, formed of superposed sheets of material, and a coverformed of a single strip of flexible material relatively stiffer thanthe material of which said container is formed, said cover being foldedaround the container, there being small articles such as medicinaltablets, capsules and the like, sealed between said sheets of materialof the container in individual compartments.

One object of the invention is to provide a package of this characterembodying novel and improved means for holding and protecting thetablets, capsules or the like against damage, such as crushing.

Another object is to provide such a package that shall include areinforcing guard sheet of suitable material such as cardboard at eachof opposite sides of the container, and having an opening in registerwith each of the articles and of a diameter substantially greater thanthe article, the aggregate thickness of said sheets being greater thanthe thickness of said articles, whereby when the cover strip is foldedaround the container, said guard sheets will protect the articlesagainst crushing and will be held against displacement from the cover bythe projection of the article-containing portions of the container intothe openings of the guard sheets.

Other objects, advantages and results of the invention will be broughtout by the following description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawing in which- Figure 1 is a top plan view of the cover strip,container and guard sheets in partially assembled relation;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the parts shown in Figure 1 showingthe cover strip partially folded and one of the guard sheets swungoutwardly away from the container;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a crush-resistant package constructedin accordance with the invention and in closed condition;

Figure 4 is a greatly enlarged horizontal sectional view approximatelyon the plane of the line 4-4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is an enlarged transverse vertical sectional view approximatelyon the plane of the line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional View approximately on theplane of the line 66 of Figure 3; and

Figure 7 is a further enlarged vertical sectional view on the plane ofthe line 77 of Figure 3.

Specifically describing the illustrated embodiment of the invention, thecontainer A is shown as formed of two layers 1 and 2 of suitableflexible material such as cellophane, Pliofilm, metallic foil, paper orthe like. This material may be thermoplastic itself or my have athermoplastic or fusible coating so that the juxtaposed layers can becaused to adhere together by application of heat and pressure, or thelayers could be sealed together with an adhesive. As shown, the layersare heat-sealed and crimped in zones 3 forming and bounding compart-2,780,353 Patented Feb. 5, 1957 ice ments 4 between the layers in whicharticles such as medicinal tablets 5 are enclosed, the container thuscomprising a sheet of integral sub-packages, each containing a tabletand being separable from the sheet along scored lines 6; and the sheethas an edge portion 7 extending beyond the package and initiallyunsealed. The walls of each compartment tightly grip the articlesbetween them and bulge or project beyond the general plane of thecontainer within the sealed zones 3.

The cover B comprises a strip or sheet of flexible material such asheavy paper that is relatively stiffer than the layers of which thecontainer A is formed and includes a body portion 8 juxtaposed to oneside of the container and folded at 9 around one edge portion 7 of thecontainer to form a container-attaching flap 10 that is secured adjacentthe fold to the container A for example, by application of heat andpressure where the layers 1 and 2 are thermoplastic or havethermoplastic coatings, the transverse marginal end portion of the flapbeing spaced from the container. Preferably the sealed zone is alsocrimped as indicated at 11. The body portion 8 of the cover is ofapproximately the same shape but somewhat larger than the container A inlength and breadth and at the end of the body portion opposite the fold9 there is another fold 12 in the strip around the edge or end of thecontainer opposite the attaching edge 7, and beyond said fold 12 is aclosure flap portion 13 that is of a size and shape to cover the side ofthe container opposite the body portion 8 of the cover; and thetransverse end edge zone of said closure flap is adapted to tuck intothe space between the transverse marginal end portion of thecontainer-attaching flap 10 and the container, as best shown in Figure3.

Preferably, although not necessarily, the edge of the closure flap has aportion initially sealed to but releasable from the body portion of thecover so as to initially firmly hold the closure flap in closed positionbut to permit the closure flap to be swung open for access to thesubpackages. As shown, a tab 14 projects integrally beyond the end edgeof the closure flap and lies in a cut-away portion or opening 15 in thecontainer-attaching flap 10 and in direct contact with the adjacent wallor sheet 1 of the container A with the end edge of the closure flaptucked beneath the marginal end portion of the con tamer-attaching flapas shown in Figure 3. The tab is permanently secured to the container inany suitable way, preferably thermoplastically, and preferably has aweakened or scored zone 16 to permit tearing of the closure flap fromthe tab for releasing the closure flap. Obviously, the tab 14 will besealed to the container at the same time that the sealed zone 11 isformed.

For protecting the articles against damage such as crushing duringtransportation and handling of the package, a guard member C isprovided. This guard member is shown as comprising two sections 17 and18, each of which comprises a sheet of stiff material such as cardboard,and each sheet has a plurality of openings 19 therethrough so spacedthat one may register with each of the compartments 4 when one of thesheets is laid under the container A and the other sheet is laid overthe container A. The openings encircle the compartments and aresubstantially larger in diameter than the articles. The thickness ofeach guard sheet is greater than the distance that the compartment wallsproject from the general plane of the container and about equal to thedistance between the closure flap or body portion of the cover and theportions of the container surrounding the compartment, and the aggregatethickness of the sheets 17 and 18 is greater than the thickness of thecompartments containing the articles as best shown in Figures 3 and 4.Thus when the guard sheets 17 and 18 are disposed at opposite sides ofthe container A with the openings in register with the respectivecompartments 4, and with the closure flap in closed position as shown inFigures 4 and 5, the guard sheets will be gripped between the containerand the portions 8 and 13 of the cover with the bulging walls of thecompartments projecting into the openings 19 whereby said guard sheetswill be prevented by the projections of the articles and compartmentwalls into the openings 19 from sliding laterally away from thecontainer and out of the cover; but when the closure flap is opened, theuppermost guard sheet can be swung away from the container as shown inFigure 2 so that the sub-packages can be easily separated from thecontainer along the scored lines 6. If desired the whole guard includingboth the sheets may be easily slipped out of the package and thrownaway, the guard sheets being intended primarily to protect the tabletsduring shipments.

Preferably the guard sheets are hingedly connected together, and asshown, a hinge strip 20 is adhesively secured to the two guard sheets 17and 18 along corresponding edge portions thereof so as to form a hinge21 by which the two sheets can be swung either into superposed relationto each other with their hinged edges embracing a free edge of thecontainer, or into substantially a common plane. It will be understoodthat the hinge 21 could be formed along the longitudinal edges of theguard sheets instead of along the transverse edges as shown, in whichcase the uppermost guard sheet could be swung in the same direction asthe cover flap.

It will also be understood that the number of articles in the containerand the number of containers in the cover may be varied as desired andthat the number of guard members and the number of openings in the guardmembers will correspond to the number of containers and the number ofarticles in the containers. The invention also contemplates thepackaging of powder, liquid or paste, as well as articles such astablets, in the container, and the term commodity container used in theappended claims is intended to denote a container of this generalnature.

While the invention has been shown as embodied in certain structuraldetails, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatmodifications and changes may be made in the construction andcombination of the cover and the container and the guard member, allwithin the spirit and scope of the invention. For example, the inventionmay be utilized in connection with containers wherein only one of theside walls of the commodity compartments bulges. With such as container,of course,

only one of the guard sheets needs to have openings for the bulgingcompartments.

What I claim is:

1. A package comprising an approximately flat commodity container havingthin flexible walls sealed together in zones forming and bounding aplurality of compartments each of which has a commodity therein andopposite walls of which bulge from the general planes of thecorresponding container walls, a relatively stiff but flexible coverhaving portions each juxtaposed to one of two opposite walls of thecontainer, means fastening said cover portions against separation toclose the package but providing for separation of said cover portions toopen the package for access to said container, an edge portion of saidcontainer being secured to said cover, and a still guard sheet heldbetween each of said cover portions and the adjacent wall of thecontainer, said guard sheets having openings in register with andencircling the bulging walls of said compartments and the thickness ofsaid guard sheets being greater than the distance that said compartmentwalls bulge from the planes of the corresponding container walls andapproximately equal to the distance between said cover portions and saidplanes of the container walls when said cover portions are inpackage-closing position, said guard sheets being in contact with thecorresponding cover portions and said container and gripped therebetweenwith said bulging walls of said compartments projecting into thecorresponding openings in the guard sheets, thereby to hold said guardsheets against slipping out of the package when the package is closed,said guard sheets being otherwise free from and unconnected with saidcommodity container and said cover.

2. A package as defined in claim 1 wherein said guard sheets are hingedtogether along corresponding edge portions thereof with said edgeportions in embracing relation to one edge of said container thereby toprovide a unitary guard member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,104,371 McGlashan et al. July 21, 1914 1,975,526 Williams et al. Oct.2, 1934 2,050,270 Burnham Aug. 11, 1936 2,415,859 Ancker Feb. 18, 19472,652,149 OMeara Sept. 15, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 365,081 France June 16,1906

